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19 Mar 03 - 09:29 AM (#913346) Subject: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: GUEST,Jim Clark..London.England Alfred Edward Housman poet and pre-eminent classicist of his time, was born near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire 1859–1936, An English poet and scholar, whose verse exerted a strong influence on later poets. Housman proved to be one of the finest classical scholars of his time...This uncomplicated but oh so true poem surely will remind us all of our youthful innocence...here's the link to the page with the sound file.. One and twenty by A E Houseman (sound poem set to music) Regards. Jim Clark... PS..Dont forget you can if you prefer listen to my sound poems at my Yahoo "sound poetry" web group (look in "files") heres that link http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloozman_uk/ All rights are reserved on this sound recording/copyright/patent Jim Clark 2003 One and twenty When I was one-and-twenty I heard a wise man say, "Give crowns and pounds and guineas But not your heart away; Give pearls away and rubies But keep your fancy free." But I was one-and-twenty, No use to talk to me. When I was one-and-twenty I heard him say again, "The heart out of the bosom Was never given in vain; 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty And sold for endless rue." And I am two-and-twenty, And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true. |
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19 Mar 03 - 09:45 AM (#913362) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: Amos This, by the way, fits nicely as a talking blues. :>) A |
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19 Mar 03 - 10:11 AM (#913386) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: IanC "When I was One and Twenty" was acknowledged by W. B. Yeats to be the inspiration for his poem "Sally Garden". It's normally sung to the same tune. The only other A. E. Housman poem I know that's set to music is "Thirteen Pence a Day". :-) |
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19 Mar 03 - 12:16 PM (#913541) Subject: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Genie Thanks for postin the poem and links, Jim. (I couldn't open the sound file-- I don't think it downloaded or opened --, but I'll try later on a different browser. Weren't there 3 verses to Housman's poem, though? I seem to recall reading (and hearing Basil Rathbone superbly read) three verses. (Or is my memory playing tricks on me?) Genie |
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19 Mar 03 - 12:46 PM (#913580) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: Watson I've seen the poem as posted by Jim, but divided into 3 verses - Jim's first verse split into two quatrains. |
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19 Mar 03 - 01:03 PM (#913596) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: GUEST,MCP Ian - Mike Raven (with Joan Mills) recorded an album A Shropshire Lad of Houseman poems set to traditional tunes (interspersed with Welsh tunes on solo guitar). (According to Mike Raven Catalogue of Recordings Houseman refused to let the BBC broadcast his poems unless they were put to melodies and sung). Mick |
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19 Mar 03 - 01:18 PM (#913616) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: Watson Also recorded by Polly Bolton, who lives in Shropshire, on "The Loveliest of Trees", with readings by Nigel Hawthorne. |
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19 Mar 03 - 02:09 PM (#913671) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Genie Mick, if Housman "refused to let the BBC broadcast his poems unless they were put to melodies and sung," that's probably because few people would read or recite the poem with the skill that Sir Basil R. did! (He didn't "need no steenking music!") :-D |
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20 Mar 03 - 02:37 AM (#914230) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: GUEST,Jim Clark..London.England Thanx Guys your feedback is most interesting I hoope some of you will make the journey over to come and listen to this and numerous other sound poems and acoustic music recordings....I got the poem from the Penguin book of Victorian verse edition edited by Daniel Karlin 1997 and now I see I should have broken the poem into three..the third and final part commences 'Tis paid with sighs a plenty.....I think you'll find my reading is in this order.. Genie I hope you've managed to listen to this sound poem by now.MSN possibly because of pressures on their network caused by the Iraq situation were having one of their funny days yesterday...You do need to become a member at MSN and Yahoo sites to open sound files,but rest assured the dozens of sound poems and music tracks on my websites do play.. Regards. Jim Clark.... |
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20 Mar 03 - 03:44 AM (#914254) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: alanabit I don't know much about Houseman - or indeed poetry in general - but I have liked the few lines I have read. It has proper rhymes and metre and it sounds wise without being preachy. Was he one of the Gloucester poets whom Johny Coppin also set to music? I did come across an anecdote which I liked. Apparently as he was dying, his doctor told him a bawdy joke to cheer him up. He replied, "That is indeed very good. I shall have to repeat that on the Golden Floor!" I think I would have liked the bloke. Thanks for posting the link. |
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20 Mar 03 - 04:10 AM (#914262) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: GUEST,Jim Clark..London.England Thanx Alanbit, I'd not heard of Johnny Coppin before,but i've just taken a look at his website and he looks interesting.... Regards. Jim Clark. |
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20 Mar 03 - 05:17 AM (#914286) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: McGrath of Harlow When I was One and Twenty" was acknowledged by W. B. Yeats to be the inspiration for his poem "Sally Garden". Since A Shropshire Lad, including Housman's poem, was puiblished in 1896, and Crossways, with Yeats's, was published in 1889, this seems questionable, even though it is true that poems exist in manuscript before they ever get printed. Given the identical metre, which means the two can be sung as one song, and the similarity of theme it might conceivably be true the other way round. (Though Housman's joke about a 22 year old lamenting the long lost days when he was 21 has no equivaknet in the poem by Yeats - which is a distillation of a pre-existing song he didn't write.) |
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20 Mar 03 - 08:03 AM (#914358) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: IanC Easy really Kevin. "One and Twenty" was written in 1887. "A Shroshire Lad" as a collection of poems, was published in 1896. :-) |
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20 Mar 03 - 09:00 AM (#914399) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: IanC MCP Thanks for the Mike Raven info. Following on what you said, I had a poke round on the web and found This Site which has quite a few Housman songs. :-) |
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20 Mar 03 - 09:28 AM (#914421) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: MikeofNorthumbria A E Houseman, for my money, was a superb writer of sentimental love lyrics for the inexperienced and frustrated young. If he'd been born half a century later, he'd have had a steady job in the pop music industry. It's true that judged by the very highest standards, his work is not 'great' poetry. But for all that, there's no need to sneer at it, as so many 'serious' literary critics do nowadays. Read Houseman at nineteen and you think, "Ah yes, that's just how it feels". Read him again at thirty and you're liable to experience some embarrassment. Not because of the verse itself, but because of the sensations (and the blunders) it reminds you of so vividly. However, the old fellow had a lighter side too, as this short offering demonstrates: Oh, when I was in love with you, then I was clean and brave, And miles around, the wonder grew how well I did behave. But now the fancy passes by, and nothing will remain, And miles around, they say that I am quite myself again. In view of current events in Iraq, we might also recall the following lines of Houseman's, written just after World War 1: Here dead we lie, because we did not choose To live and shame the land from which we sprung. Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, and we were young. Wassail! |
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20 Mar 03 - 10:07 AM (#914459) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: IanC There's no E in Housman! |
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20 Mar 03 - 10:28 AM (#914485) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: Beccy Didn't Housman die obscenely young? I LOVE a Shropshire Lad. Does anyone have a link to a sampling of the Housman poems set to music? I didn't see one in the link provided by Mick. Beccy |
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20 Mar 03 - 11:32 AM (#914565) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: IanC Born 1859 died 1936 ... not really. ;-) |
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20 Mar 03 - 11:59 AM (#914590) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: Beccy Get out! Of whom am I thinking, then? Beccy |
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20 Mar 03 - 12:34 PM (#914619) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: IanC Rupert Brooke perhaps? |
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21 Mar 03 - 02:05 AM (#915128) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: musicmick I have always sung "When I Was One and Twenty" to the tune of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling". It fits just right. Another idea is to sing Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" (The one that starts out with, "Come live with me and be my love...) to the tune of "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" I love poetry which, in my crowd, makes me stand out like a bagpipe in a bluegrass band. |
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21 Mar 03 - 03:51 AM (#915158) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: GUEST,MCP Beccy - I can't see any samples of Mike Raven's settings. His CDs are available directly from him if you want one. Mick |
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21 Mar 03 - 11:39 AM (#915391) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: Uncle_DaveO I sing "One and Twenty" to a minor tune I "wrote" myself. Unfortunately, the poem is really too short to make a good performance song. Dave Oesterreich |
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07 Feb 08 - 09:17 PM (#2256477) Subject: Lyr Add: When I was one-and-twenty From: GUEST,CHICO This baby has been arranged to music for choir. Heard at "GMEA All State Men's Choir" It's a minor key.
[A.E. Housman, number XIII from A Shropshire Lad, 1986. Alfred Edward Housman (26 March 1859 – 30 April 1936), usually known as A.E. Housman, was an English poet and classical scholar best known for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900. Their wistful evocation of doomed youth in English countryside, their spare, strophic language and distinctive imagery appealed strongly to the Edwardian and Georgian English composers (beginning with Arthur Somervell) both before and after the First World War. Through their song-settings the poetry therefore became closely associated with that generation, and are undyingly associated with Shropshire itself. In the first stanza, the speaker (even admitingly to himself) comes off as a brash youth: "I was one-and-twenty, / No use to talk to me" (line 7, 8.) But in the second stanza, Housman makes it clear that with age the speaker has gained maturity and learned a valuable lesson about life and love: "I am two-and-twenty, / And oh, 'tis true, 'tis true" (line 15, 16.) This poem is very succinct, with meaning that goes well beyond the actual words written. Housman's use of money-language: "crowns, pounds, guineas, pearls, rubies, paid, and sold" all serve metaphorically towards the price each of us pays when gambling with love. The idea of money and currency is an interesting way to explain the trials of love. Overall, Housman's "When I Was One-and-Twenty" is a comical verse about the futility of love, youth, experience, and the irony in living life.] |
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08 Feb 08 - 12:28 AM (#2256549) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Houseman sound poem From: Joe_F Will the authorities correct the spelling of Housman's name in the subject line?
-Joe Offer- |
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08 Feb 08 - 03:43 AM (#2256589) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Micca Hissyfit do a wonderful version of Housmans "Blue remembered hills" wwith additional veres on on their CD "Sweet Minerva" see here |
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08 Feb 08 - 05:29 AM (#2256616) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Big Al Whittle I always find him a bit twee. Who amongst us would choose to spend an evening in the company of sprightly lad or a rose lipped maiden? |
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08 Feb 08 - 05:44 AM (#2256625) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: GUEST, Sminky "The troubles of our proud and angry dust are from eternity and shall not fail. Bear them we can, and if we can we must. Shoulder the sky, my lad, and drink your ale." Can't argue with that. |
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08 Feb 08 - 08:51 PM (#2257365) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Joe_F Good creatures, do you love your lives And have you ears for sense? Here is a knife like other knives, That cost me eighteen pence. I need but stick it in my heart And down will come the sky, And earth's foundations will depart And all you folk will die. * I to my perils Of cheat and charmer Came clad in armour By stars benign. Hope lies to mortals And most believe her, But man's deceiver Was never mine. The thoughts of others Were light and fleeting, Of lovers' meeting Or luck or fame. Mine were of trouble, And mine were steady, So I was ready When trouble came. |
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09 Feb 08 - 08:17 PM (#2258099) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Joe_F The Grizzly Bear is fierce and wild. He has devoured the Infant Child. The Infant Child is not aware It has been eaten by the Bear. (Has appeared in a number of versions, but I think that one is the most likely.) |
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09 Feb 08 - 09:06 PM (#2258153) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: DannyC I once read a line attributed to Housman that validated my own unschooled but heartfelt encounter with song and poetry. When a hi-strung teenager - after a stillness came over the remainder of our cramped house - I would often lowly tune into late night Philly radio. There were certain songs (not many) that delivered a physical thrill to me where my hair would stand on end at hearing certain passages sung there in the dark. (no, I am not talking about that other night activity - that was an activity set apart from what I am describing here - please get your mind out of the gutter.) :-) The little thrill became a secret guide that would draw me to a certain song or singer. The lure of my secret thrill was such that I eventually went out and became a 5 or 6 night a week pub singer... kind of an 'in search of' thing. In the 1980s I got chance to work for nearly a decade with an American musician who had won a Senior All-Ireland title on his instrument. One day we were over his place having a few tunes and listening to records (remember records?) and he turns to me during a Dick Gaughan song and says, "Look what his singing of this song does to me." All of the hair on his arms bristled. In his introduction to "The White Goddess", Robert Graves states "A.E. Housman's test of a pure poem was simple and practical: does it make the hairs of one's chin bristle if one repeats it silently while shaving? But he did not explain why the hairs should bristle." I was delighted to have found this passage. I was happy to report to my friend that I had located our Pythagoras - that our Phila./Brooklyn reactions to song had been validated by an honest to gawd high-brow with the right sort of edjakayshun and accent. What a relief!! In my singing pursuits these days I still get that occasional physical payoff - decribed elsewhere in Graves as being that mixed feeling of fear and exhaltation at being in the presence of something (well, exalted and fearful and awesome). These days - mostly in the 'big ballads' - it might be felt as a surprise desire to suddenly weep while going thru a passage. I now view this aspect of my experience of song and poetry as a gift - as something to cherish and Housman's words (thru Graves) have become an affirmation, and perhaps a benediction, for me. |
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10 Feb 08 - 09:14 PM (#2259047) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Joe_F Here is the original sentence (in _The Name and Nature of Poetry_): Experience has taught me, when I am shaving of a morning, to keep watch over my thoughts, because, if a line of poetry strays into my memory, my skin bristles so that the razor ceases to act. |
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10 Feb 08 - 09:21 PM (#2259053) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: Riginslinger Probably the most important thing about A.E. Housman was the poetry that was destroyed after his death. If he'd lived during the age of Alan Ginsberg, his influence would have been much greater, I think. |
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11 Feb 08 - 10:23 AM (#2259407) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: DannyC "Experience has taught me, when I am shaving of a morning, to keep watch over my thoughts, because, if a line of poetry strays into my memory, my skin bristles so that the razor ceases to act." Joe F, Tx! That's better yet... wonderful. |
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09 May 08 - 02:05 AM (#2336299) Subject: RE: One and twenty - A E Housman sound poem From: GUEST I've been trying to find a good men's group recording of Richard Nance's arrangement of "When I Was One and Twenty" -- this is the arrangement sung by the GMEA All-State Men's Chorus, mentioned by a previous poster. I actually attended that live performance in 1999, and through the years, I've been intermittently trying to find a recording. Does anybody know any good recordings? |
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27 Sep 08 - 06:44 PM (#2451813) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: One and Twenty (A E Housman) sound po From: RTim Many, many years ago this poem was recorded by the Barrow Poets. It means a lot to me; although my first wife and I (She introduced me to the Barrow Poets) are divorced and I have a second wonderful wife (my ex-wife and I are still good friends) - I love this poem, and it brings back very warm and loving memories. Tim Radford Who is very lucky to have had two such wonderful women in his life. |